Moments of Magica
by Mr CJ
Summary: Exploring the worlds and lives of the Puella Magi in 100 word moments. Inspired by the Little Melancholies series by R. Controversy. Writing and character exercise.
1. Madoka: School

School is routine, but school is fun.

School means Sayaka, Hitomi, Kazuko-sensei and fun. When she meets Mami it becomes furtive, a place for them to flaunt their little secret amongst those they are protecting, and a sense of warm security with their wonderful sempai. Homura brings it a sense of hidden mystery and excitement. Sayaka brings it normalcy and familiarity. It all becomes a whirl of emotions centred around the nexus; the places where they meet. A word here, a glance there. A tinderbox of excitement.

This place is the world to her.

Once they're gone it loses meaning.


	2. Mami: Heroism

As the Witch falls in a flurry of crayoned Sakura petals and broken glass, Mami knows she is a hero.

It is a creature rejected by reality, born to spread malice and despair. It's destruction is a moral obligation; unquestionably necessary.

When the barrier falls, no-one cheers for her.

When she returns home, no-one is waiting for her.

When she goes to school, no-one even says hello.

But Mami is a hero, so that means it's alright. Little things don't matter. The Witch is dead, ding dong. Mitakihara is safe, for a little while.

Mami is a hero.

She hopes.


	3. Sayaka: In Remembrance

She was a lot of things. A lot to live up to.

Ideals. Selflessness. Fighting in the dark for what was right.

She was all these things, and more. She taught them how to face their fears, see what was important in the world, how to rally against the night and not bow down. She was a wonderful person. The shining hero that saved the day with grace and flair. Building them up, even as she fell down.

She would be missed, but never forgotten. Her work unfinished, but never abandoned.

Mami is gone.

She will take up the sword.


	4. Kyouko: On High

One day, she will get tired of food. Not today.

Bacon and egg. In a sandwich. Whoever came up with it is a bloody genius, she thinks, strolling the rooftops of Mitakihara like a walk in the park. Below her, people drone, trudging to their jobs, rushing to work, dragged around by deadlines and obligations and others.

An ice pop. An apple. Everything she needs and a little ring on her finger with a single mark on her nail. She moves on her own whims. The world does not dictate Kyouko Sakura.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.


	5. Homura: Problem Solving

There are a number of ways for solving problems. As Homura resets her shield-clock, the world breaking into blue and white lines yet again, she reflects that hers might need work.

No matter. She can try. And try again. As many times as need be. The advantages of iteration. There _would_ be a way, somewhere, even if she stumbled on it by chance. Anything. And she has all the time in the world to find it.

As the world comes to focus under glasses she no longer needs, she vows this will be the final time.

She knows it won't.


	6. Unknown: Definately Wrong

Something's wrong.

It's like paint thinner. Black and sludgy; unable to mix; blending and swirling. It's so _dark_. Patches of colour, paint-streak lines, swish and fall a sickening spiral as her soul gem drowns. She can't even get her last seed to it, rolled away on the floor.

She hadn't meant for this to happen. She'd hunted the Witches but there'd been so many _familiars_ lately she couldn't just-

It seeps in. Cold, clogging her limbs; sharp stabs of pain as nerves snap.

There's a grief seed on the floor. There's a grief seed in her palm.

Something's definitely wrong.


	7. Charlotte: Freedom

She's free!

Out of bed, out of hospital. No more doctors or needles or nurses. Free!

Anything. Anything she wants to do now. All the sweets she could ask for, all the running and laughter the static bed had denied her. No more wires and special diets. Oh, she can't wait to see what her parents think! She can make friends now, have parties, skip and run and live because she's _free!_ She's on her own two legs and she's _free!_

Laughing and skipping with her own private miracle in her hand, she feels the happiest girl in the world.


	8. Homura: First Impressions

The first time, she's grateful. She's a way out, an escape from a terrifying situation. She is kind, she is happy. And she saves her life.

The second time, she's overjoyed. She's alive. She's alive! Just seeing her again-

The third time, she's urgent. She has to tell her. She _has_ to tell her. They were tricked!

The fourth time, she is cold and she is firm. She is alive, and she will be staying that way.

The fifth, she is weary. She is alive. She is kind, she is happy. She is naive.

Homura knows that's her greatest enemy.


	9. Sayaka: Pain

She should have expected this.

Mami had been lonely, it wasn't too hard to see that. She'd been hurt, she'd been suffering all that time, silent in her tireless war.

But she'd shouldered on. She'd stood tall and fought, true to herself to the very end. Not for grief seeds or some silly notion of fame but to _help_ people, even if they never even knew they'd been saved.

She understands it now. She was selfless, above all things. What happened to her didn't matter, just what she _did._

Pain is immaterial. Payment is immaterial. She just has to fight.


	10. Mami: Lies

She's lying. Has to be.

The Witches spread despair, she spreads hope, even in the dark where no-one can see. That's how the story of a Puella Magi goes. It couldn't be-

How could that even happen anyway? Why would Kyubey do something like that? What's the point? There's no way it could be-

Mami stares, arms folded at the pigtailed girl with her glasses and shield who claims to know her when they've never met in their lives. How could she spout this nonsense? Time Travel? Don't be ridiculous!

She won't believe it. She refuses.

It can't be true.


	11. Hitomi: Secrets

Is it fair, she wonders?

It's a horrible thing, to have secrets to hide from your friends. As long as it's there it digs in, makes things worse; she can hardly think to reveal it because she's been holding it in for _so long_... but then leaving it be just lets it fester. It's like a wound, she thinks. The sooner it's known about, the sooner it can be healed.

She loves her friends. She loves him. She doesn't want this to tear things apart.

Truth hurts, but time heals. They're still young.

She'll be honest. It's for the best.


	12. Homura: Never Live It Down

She had almost infinite weapons.

For a supposed 14 year old, she could drive a truck, fire a rocket launcher, _operate a surface to air missile battery_. She could wield machine guns, rob the army and steal from the Yakuza. She knew the ins and outs of an L16 mortar. She had the will and patience to lay hundreds of landmines just for one, all destructive trap. She could wield the weapons of _armies_, if she had to_._

A thousand weapons. A thousand exploits to her name. A million things to remember her by.

But you swing_ one golf club..._


	13. Anthonies: Gardening

They will tend the lawn.

What the mistress wants is their desire, and she creates such beautiful flowers. Singing in her cambers, she laughs such wonder and colour, spreading her light even to the depths of despair and bringing life to them all. She is the heart of the garden; surrounded by her creations, with their adoration and love.

But she is fragile, so very fragile, for she has been broken before. And they could not stand to see it happen again. Nothing will get that chance. Not ever.

They will tend the flowers.

And they will trim the weeds.


	14. Roberta: Irritants

_A/N: My apologies for the delay! University work has been effortlessly kicking my shins in, but now that's out of the way hopefully I can return to my regularish schedule.  
>Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen!<em>

Peacocks. Flashy, showy and pointless, they only exist to be looked at -even the name is appropriate. They flutter, they surround her, entice her.

Taunt her.

Jeer her.

And so she rages. With all her pain and fury and loneliness. At the cage. At the world. At all the other women in the world they'd rather have than _her._

The peacocks circle. The peacocks dance. Beautiful. Enticing. Out of reach. She doesn't even have hands anymore. No wonder she is never let out of her cage.

The peacocks surround her. Laughing.

They are meant to amuse her.

They do not.


	15. Kyouko: Sacrifice

She still remembers the old sermons. The noble sacrifice; offering oneself to save others. She's heard them all; it's only now she remembers how much they _apply_.

They don't exactly die on crosses, but the Puella have an awful lot in common with the Son of God.

As Sayaka stands, bleeding, walking above water on a metal platform a mile in the air, a seed in her hand and a smile (a smirk?) on her face, she remembers how that story ends.

The stone sealing that girl's grave will be infinitely smaller and infinitely harder to move.

She'll try anyway.


	16. Madoka: For Everything

The world is in her hands.

Thousands of them are. Untold infinity; from all the times and places and maybes and would-have-beens. Even moons, even alien worlds fall under her purview in infinite number; anywhere a Soul Gem ends its days.

She sees them all. Holds them all. She hears their pain, their tears, their fighting and breaking. She watches as each one shatters, falling and broken in the night. Beyond time; an infinite tragedy playing out before her all-seeing eyes.

And she smiles. Holds it all close, feels it all and whisks it all away.

She is hope. Always.


End file.
